Florida law enforcement agencies are ramping up their immigration enforcement efforts, and the latest operation delivered a stark warning from troopers on the front lines: many of the people they encounter are effectively invisible to the system.
During a three-day enforcement effort dubbed “Operation 9,” Florida Highway Patrol troopers teamed up with five federal, state, and local agencies to target illegal immigrants traveling on South Florida roadways.
By the end of the operation, authorities had detained 249 illegal immigrants, processed them, and transferred them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings.
But officials say the arrest numbers only tell part of the story.
“What’s alarming is we have no records for them, no accountability of who they are,” Lt. Ramin Sulaiman, assistant commander of the Florida Highway Patrol’s Immigration Enforcement Section, told Fox News Digital.
According to Sulaiman, many of those encountered during roadside stops are what troopers refer to as “ghosts” — individuals who have no documented encounters with law enforcement and little or no verifiable information in government systems.
“They’re just here,” Sulaiman said.
The comments underscore growing concerns among Florida officials who argue that years of lax border enforcement created a population of undocumented immigrants whose identities, backgrounds, and intentions remain largely unknown to authorities.
More than one million migrants who entered the country illegally during the Biden administration informed federal officials they intended to travel to Florida, according to Sulaiman.
After being processed, many were released into the country while awaiting immigration proceedings.
But troopers believe that figure may represent only a fraction of the state’s total undocumented population.
“That does not include all the ghosts, meaning the people that have no encounters,” Sulaiman said.
Florida’s population currently stands at roughly 23.5 million residents.
Based on what troopers say they encounter during routine patrols, some officers believe there could be millions more undocumented immigrants living in the state whose presence is not reflected in official government records.
Watch the clip above.
